


The Difference Between Thinking and Knowing

by pfieffer



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No Incest, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27211771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pfieffer/pseuds/pfieffer
Summary: Allison is the only one that remembers rumoring Vanya, she doesn't understand it til its nearly too late. But what about her brothers. Why don't they remember Vanya's powers either?
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Allison Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Luther Hargreeves
Kudos: 54





	The Difference Between Thinking and Knowing

Personal training was odd this particular week. No reason was really given. And the four year olds didn’t really question it. Well some of them did. Two of them did. One and Five, but they were given no real reasoning, and Five could live with that because he was a smart four year old and could figure it out on his own. One was different though. He knew his number, what it meant, so to not know bugged him. Five took the time to laugh at him which ended up with a punch in the gut and Five gasping for air. One was very strong after all. 

Training this week started off with Number Three on the first day of the week not Number One. That is what set off the siblings. They went in number order, which is what bugged Five. They went in number order which is also what bugged Number One but for a very different reason. Five liked order. He liked the sequence of their numbers, it made sense it was logical. One was mad because he always went first, one always came first when counting. It was stupid reasoning, that’s what Five told him. 

No matter how much they did not like it though, that would not change the fact that their Father’s mind was made up. Three was getting personal training first in the week. When she came back she seemed upset, but she also told them that Seven would be better by the end of the week. And that made them all happy. Five had missed Seven more than he would ever admit, he admitted it to Six, but to no one else. 

The second day of the week started off quite normal, except special training today still wasn’t with One, nor was it with Two, but with Six. This confused all the siblings. And Four gave the suggestion that it was going in backwards order. But that didn’t make sense since the first day of the week started with three. Things were weird, and Five wanted to know why. 

Six came back from his training and didn’t say much as usual, but he mentioned Number Three was there. That had five narrow his eyes at his brother, and he searched out Three and demanded answers more or less. Three didn’t give them, she said it was none of his business, and that she wasn’t allowed. That didn’t stop him from asking why, consistently until she used her power to make him go away. Five didn’t like to be rumored, it had happened once before, and he didn’t like it then either. It made him feel emptier inside, in a way that he couldn’t quite describe. 

The next day their father announced that it would be Number Four who had special training, and all the siblings but numbers Three and Six were in an uproar. Five just wanted answers. Two and One were asking questions and Five let them. They got reprimanded and Five didn’t. As soon as Father left with Four, and then Pogo came to retrieve Three a little later, One and Two fought. Two bit One’s arm, and that is when Five got involved telling them to stop, that one of them was going to go tomorrow and then they’d figure out what was going on. They all knew Four wouldn’t say a word. And Five had already tried with Three. 

It was Two’s turn, and Five had never seen their brother more proud. Granted they were only four years old. But it didn’t matter. Two was being chosen before One. And while Two looked thrilled and proud, One seemed a bit upset. Five told him it was fine, that Father would save the best for last, that’s why when they were treated with desert it came after a meal. One didn’t seem to be buying it. Five didn’t know what to do. This mess up of the sequence had put his siblings on edge, and he didn’t like that. Something told him at had something to do with Seven as that was what Three said after her training day. That Seven was coming back at the end of the week that she would be better. He tried to remind One of this, but One just pushed him away. At least he didn’t knock the air out of Five this time. 

When Two came back, Five and One cornered him. Two wouldn’t say what happened. Just that it was normal training, Three was there for a bit. And then she left. It didn’t answer anything. And it certainly didn’t ring true to their deal they had made the day prior. Two scrambled away from them, and Five looked at One. They had two more days to figure out what was going on. 

They made a pact, a pinky promise. Whoever went tomorrow would tell the other what happened, no matter what it was. They were going to figure out why the ordering wasn’t correct. They were going to figure out why Three was needed at their training. They were going to figure it out. They were very smart Four year olds after all, and they both liked space. 

One was next to go. Five figured. He didn’t understand why he was last. He gave a look to Luther as he left, with Three following in tow. Luther nodded, he remembered the pinky promise. Pinky promises were important they were the most important type of promise after all. 

Five could not focus at all during the day. He was more fidgety than normal. He always moved around, it was something that he One, and Four all shared in common. But today was worse than normal. Pogo had him run laps in the court yard in order to get the energy out. But he just couldn’t. He knew One would come back, and they would figure out why everything was so weird with the training. 

One came back and subsequently broke the pinky promise. Five had immediately grabbed One’s hand and brought him somewhere more secluded from their siblings so they could talk. He asked One what happened, and Luther gave the stony expression, one he wore for father, not for Five, and told him it was just like normal. So Five asked why Three was there, and there was a faltering, Five picked up on it. One tried to hide it. One said she was there to work on team work, and trust. 

Five glared at him, and didn’t believe him. He got up and stormed away, upset that One not only broke a pinky promise, but also that his answers did not make any sense. If One had been telling the truth, which Five knew he wasn’t. One was a bad liar. But, if One had been telling the truth none of that explained the odd order in which they had training this week. Teamwork and trust could be worked on in the correct sequence of numbers. 

It was up to him to figure it out, as always. They were just four years old, but Five was the smartest. He figured out puzzles and school work faster than his siblings. He’d figure this out to. Then he would tell them what happened. And all this would be settled for when Seven came back from being sick in two days. It would all work out just fine. He just wished he didn’t have to work it out himself. 

He didn’t sleep much that night, he was too busy thinking about his training, what it would entail, and if Three would be there. His tiredness was noticed at breakfast at least. He saw the look from their father. But at least their father didn’t say anything about it. He was the last one to go. The order didn’t bother him like it did One, he just preferred things in sequence. He didn’t actually care if he went first last, or wherever. But why give them numbers if you were not going to use them. He didn’t get that. 

He was called for training, and his father had him sit in a chair, which was odd. Usually his training consisted of building up endurance. Then Pogo escorted Three in. His mind was racing as he tried to figure out exactly what was going on. His father wasn’t talking, or explaining anything, so he knew One had lied to him about trust and teamwork. He glared at their father. “What’s going on?” he asked. 

His father gave him a studying look, a gaze that was only accentuated by the monocle he always wore. Three looked nervous. It had something to do with her. Five knew this. His father then turned to Three, “Make sure you use the correct phrasing this time number Three, your words are important. I have no doubt you will be paying for your mistake yesterday.”

Five gulped, nervous now. What was Three going to do. Well besides the obvious she was going to rumor him. He didn’t like this one bit. He shifted in the chair, his father studying him as always. He looked at Three and shook his head, not wanting her to do it. She didn’t look to keen herself, but she had no choice. He swallowed again, his little hands gripping the armrests of the chair. 

“I heard a rumor…” the soundwaves came and assaulted his ears. He never liked being rumored. “You think Number Seven is Ordinary.” The affect wore off as the rumor cemented itself in him. He felt empty. She had rumored him but he had no idea what she rumored him about. And now he knew why his siblings lied. He glared at her, and then his father. 

“Number Five,” he spoke his voice clipped as always, “You’re extradentary are you not?”

Five nodded, “Obviously.” It was a big word for a four year old to say, but it made him feel smart. He knew his worth. He was proud of it. He couldn’t read his father’s expression but that was fine by Five. 

“What about Seven?” he asked leaning in. 

Five looked at him and tilted his head, he looked to Three who looked like she was going to cry, “I think she’s ordinary.” He stated as if it was a simple fact. 

Pogo escorted Three out who looked like she was crying, even if she wasn’t making a noise. Training continued as normal for him. Building up endurance. How far and long could he go without taking a break. 

The next day Seven was back, and he was glad. She was his favorite after all. No one spoke of the odd training week ever again. Nothing like it happened ever again, at least not while they were young. Training days soon blurred. 

No one thought about the week that Allison rumored each one of them to forget that Vanya was just like them. It wasn’t that they forgot the week existed, it wasn’t anything like that at all. It was simply the fact that they didn’t remember what was so weird about it in the first place, or that Allison rumored them at all. 

It wasn’t until much later they were sitting around a table at a restaurant, eating dinner when it came up again. For some reason Allison rumoring Vanya had come up again, and Five had only been half paying attention, content to enjoy the company of his rowdy siblings. But he perked up. Things tensed when it was brought up. 

“I know it wasn’t you, well I know now. It was Dad.” She said offering a small smile to Allison. 

Klaus then decided to add to the conversation, “Allison has rumored all of us at least once, nothing that bad though.”

Allison got defense then, and Five hoped they wouldn’t get kicked out if an actual argument did happen. His siblings tended to throw things when arguments happened. “I never meant those things.”

Five spoke up then. “I never liked when you did it to me. It always made me feel empty, like part of me was missing.”

“I’m sorry Five, everyone,” she said first looking pointedly at Five, then a general glance around the table.

Five shrugged, and took a sip of the drink that Klaus graciously ordered for him because he was still in his cursed child body, “Water under the bridge.” Allison offered him a small smile at that. 

The conversation lulled again, and Five tuned out again content that his siblings were alive and happy. He heard the word promise brought up, and looked around it was Klaus talking about promises, and pinky promises. Five scoffed, “Pinky promises are bullshit.”

Klaus turned to look at him, all his siblings did, which made him slightly uncomfortable. He may be cocky and confident but having the discerning gaze of his siblings on him was not something he ever had liked. “Care to explain, old man?” Klaus offered. 

Five sighed and rolled his eyes. “When we were four, there was a really odd week of training---”

He was cut off by Diego, “I remember that week, I got to train before Luther for once.”

Five gave him an icy glare. “We didn’t go in number order, which I still to this day think is illogical. Allison went first, then Ben, Klaus, Diego, Luther, and finally me. After Allison went that first day we were told Vanya was going to be back by the end of the week. Even now it’s weird.” Five was caught up in his own story, if he had been paying attention he would have noticed Allison, he should have been paying attention. 

“Luther and I were the most upset about the whole lack of order, obviously. When Diego returned from his training and didn’t tell us anything we made a pinky promise to say whoever went next would say what happened and Luther broke it like he does most things.” He finished. 

Luther at least had the decency to look upset about it, which was not what Five had expected. He expected Luther to get angry at the fact that Five called him out for breaking things, which was only true half the time. 

It was then that Five noticed Allison. She seemed like she was about to cry. His eyes narrowed, and he blinked a bit trying to put it all together. “It’s okay Allison,” that came from his side, from Vanya. He looked at her, and put it all together. 

Everything clicked into place now, over forty years later. He finally understood that weird week of training. 

“What’s going on?” Luther asked.

“Allison rumored all of us into thinking Vanya didn’t have powers.” The table was silent, it would take the others a bit longer to catch up. None of them had quite the memory of Five, nor did they have quite the brain function. They were all smart sure, but not quite on Five’s level especially with this kind of stuff. 

“Vanya’s right,” Five said after a minute allowing his brothers to take their time in wrestling with the information. “It’s okay. We all beat the rumor anyways. I do have a question though. What did Dad mean about you messing up the words?”

Allison looked like she was going to cry again, there were a few tears streaming down her face already. “I’m so sorry Luther. I messed up the Rumor. I told all of you one thing, and told Luther something slightly different. Words have meaning especially with my power. I told you all that you thought Vanya was ordinary,” Vanya winced at that, but she knew it wasn’t true, they all did. “I told Luther that he knew Vanya was ordinary.” She let out a soft sob, and Vanya who was situated between Allison and Five, reached her hand around Allison and rubbed her shoulder to comfort her. 

Five got it. The words were powerful. For the brothers it was all based on their thoughts, but Luther knew. He only heard brief mentioned of what happened before Vanya had torn the Umbrella Academy down. None of his siblings would talk much about it, but they said it was almost impossible to get Luther to listen. And now Five knew why, he glanced at Allison. “There’s a difference between thinking and knowing, isn’t there?” She nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic came about after chatting with a friend about stuff on Tumblr. We were yelling about RP. 
> 
> I want to say I had no intention for this fic to be so Five centric, but he is my favorite, and I do write him in RP so it was bound to happen.


End file.
